


(indistinct) (white noise)

by Archistratego



Series: (///)(white///) [1]
Category: Alien Series, Alien: Covenant, Aliens (1986), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Thrawn - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Gen, How Do I Tag, Implied Relationships, Intentionally Bad Spelling & Grammar, M/M, Unconventional POV, What Have I Done, aliens have thoughts too ok, not thrawn alien tho - i mean xenomorph alien, sort of au crossover dumpster fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 13:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10968510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archistratego/pseuds/Archistratego
Summary: The Chiss know there are things that are best kept secret, wreckage best left undisturbed. In space no one can hear you scream.As the Death Star is constructed, the innocuous leftover remains of a ship are brought on board the Chimaera while Thrawn is away.





	(indistinct) (white noise)

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for: Thrawn(novel), Tarkin(novel), Rebels s.3, and Alien Covenant. This is a prompt from [ultraviolence](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ultraviolence/pseuds/ultraviolence) that got way, way out of hand, I'm taking liberties with both Star Wars and Alien canon. There is only experimental narrative trash here, nothing to see.
> 
> Thank you to my beta reader beanie for their support and patience while I screamed.

  


the indistinct white noise of the ship does nothing for his frayed nerves. thrawn presses the heel of his hand over where the bacta patch covers his shoulder. 

the universe extends into infinity; the edge of known space where tiny outposts scream unheard signals of distress; it had long been coming, buried in the depths of an ancient shape from an extinguished race.

the cause of extinction is there, hibernating in the humming bowls of the craft. dormant until some careless engineer clicked on the auxiliary power. a neon red glow expanded across the deceptively deserted area, illuminating grotesque metallic-looking nests.

an entire contingent went missing before they caught it on camera.

  


* * *

  


[narrow line of vision.

silence. silence. _silent_. pull lip back.

space smells ((like nothing)) **but**?? hunt) = scent: not their thought. 

pull lip back. 

space smell. smells ((like nothing) **you** ; hunt scent). the acrid taste?

//180//9//2//4609//

narrow line of vision. imprint. imprint. wet.

trickle. step, scrap scrap _scrapscrapscrapscrap_

light. red. red. red. painpainpain. ((teeth)) empty space. 

u(p)

narrow line of vision.

dark. scrap.

warm. nest.

trickle. wait.]

  


* * *

  


the wreckage leftovers of the N05740N0M0 were bare pieces of an era long gone. they had been laid out inside the landing deck of the chimaera; an acquisition from unknown space.

the egg unfolds like a flower, tendrils reaching in supplication to their creator: from engineer, to man, to android, to now, _this_. ignited inside, bowels stirring -- it could clamp its way through anything.

it was born again. 

only one to start a colony.

and all biological organisms on ship to be hunted. hunted. hunted.

  


* * *

  


the emperor's right hand misses the carrion spike. the luxury of the setting of traps; nowadays his sets his traps with words. seldom is he blindsided and he never forgets a slight. tarkin does not commit the mistake of wishing often but right now he wishes it were vader standing alongside him.

the video feed is grainy, even enhanced. it moves too fast. even without sound it is easy to imagine the cracking sound of armour beneath that double mouth before it springs upwards with the body into a vent.

"oh, it's beautiful."

tarkin suppresses the urge to punch krennic in the face, a twitch of the muscle of his jaw the only telltale sign of the thought.

"may i remind you, director, that you are not here to admire it." tarkin might agree on some level: the sheer athleticism of its build, the speed, a species like none he has ever encountered. and being governor of the outer rim gives him plenty of contact with the 'unusual'. 

"it is in the interest of the emperor to have this studied." weaponised. could they be manipulated, did they imprint? krennic's mind is racing with a million ideas; first and foremost the daydream of locking this creature and tarkin in the same room. "to study one must appreciate it, don't you think so, governor?"

tarkin turns his eyes back on the screen.

"the execrutix is heading to the chimaera's last known location. i suggest you get back to your other projects, director. we can't have you falling behind schedule again."

"i can spare the time, now that erso is fully committed to the project once more." that is a harmless white lie: galen is committed to keeping his mind intact, to struggle against the gilded cage orson had lovingly forged.

galen is getting better at lying, but not to orson. he knows galen better than he knows himself. sometimes, late at night when they are exchanging terse words beneath the sheets, orson still manages to surprise galen.

it is a rewarding thought. especially when faced with the immovable force that is tarkin — who will never again be blindsided by krennic.

krennic watches the neon green numbers: wreckage;180924609; --s--t--n-mo.

"surely, you'll want to do a final inspection of the project down in geonosis." orson thinks his smile is charming. tarkin has other opinions about both smiles and inspections, but he doesn't say no.

  


* * *

  


[metal;  
warmth;  
wet;  
breath;

theyrememberthebreathoftheircreationwhenitwasmusicmusicmusicsweetsweet C A L L I N G

good & bad (are) concepts (that are not them) cannot rationalise (this is running on) repeat; narrow

line

of

vision.

sounds;]

  


* * *

  


eli vanto has been witness to many strange things; across his back three marks, intentional, marking a rite of passage. it is inevitable, he misses thrawn. (who he still thinks of in terms of _sir_ and _admiral_ instead of _companion, friend, ???_. he has seen all the schematics, the lore written in bright blue. 

he is in awe: the perfect organism. 

it lingers inside his nightmares: those fingers, back protrusions drawn back in spiral like mechanical tubes feeding into bacta tank. eli dreams the exoskeleton becoming his own skin, losing his vision -- trapped beneath the elongated skull. 

the tail drags behind.

there are times he sees his family from behind his new mask: narrow line vision.

the ship's white noise lulls him to sleep.

  


* * *

  


[scrapped metal; scra[[ed — — scrapped;

colour: red; blue; 

narrow line vision.

lip pull back. second mouth.

FIRE FIRE FIRE — 

sizzle.  
up.up.]

  


* * *

  


leaving the chimaera on _certain_ hands had been a costly mistake. thrawn would have never hauled this wreckage onboard, he would have known what it was. his people, after all, had been planning for this eventually for a long time.

now there is a mess: too many nooks, too many missing bodies. 

thrawn wishes he had the archives of the chiss ascendancy at his disposal right now. a transmission had been sent: a coded SOS with footage, with questions, bringing unknown equations into this situation. to add more individuals promises an escalation of the infection.

the unfamiliar constellations in what the empire calls unknown space unsettle the remaining crew.

thrawn sends out a staccato code on an emergency frequency that does not belong to the empire.

  


* * *

  


[buryburburyburybury. claws scrape.

CLICKING. 

narrow line vision.

blueblueblueblue

jaw, two mouth. snap]

  


* * *

  


he is surprised; it doesn’t stop him from raising his blaster and aiming well.

one day the empire would be faced with this. (he sought to perfect the art of war — still does, surrounded in dreams of curved, clawed hands pulling below) thrawn's skull hits the wall, his teeth clack together, his mouth fills with a metallic taste.

his End is looking at him with no eyes, elongated cranium as its mouth opens --

there is nothing. thrawn feels nothing.

  


* * *

  


[ 

((Ozymandias)).

]

  


* * *

  


a biting sting of acid on his shoulder, but thrawn is still breathing: before him a blur moving too fast, blaster humming before discharging in an explosion of purple sparks.

the creature's outraged scream as it climbs up the vent, mortally wounded. one less to contend with. thrawn is surprised when he looks up.

eli vanto gives a crooked smile. "good day, sir. we've been following a transmission."


End file.
